


From One Fannibal To Another

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:21:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28411584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: Before the Murder Husbands convention, one Hannigram cosplay designer sends a love letter to another, a love spurred on by their shared passion from Will/Hannibal, the books Murder Husbands and Blood and Chocolate, along with a conviction that devouring Bedelia Du Maurier is an important sacrifice for Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter so they truly transform themselves from the death, horror, and ugliness of the past into beauty. Perhaps this transformation is a metaphor for something else?
Relationships: Bedelia Du Maurier/Hannibal Lecter, Fredricka Bimmel/Jame Gumb, Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Kudos: 2





	From One Fannibal To Another

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, you may recognize these characters from Silence of the Lambs. I’m trying to be true to the Hannibal TV series by re-imagining them in a modern setting (in this case after the Great Red Dragon arc). Freddie Lounds has written a best-selling novel about Will Graham called Murder Husbands. She’s being sued for copyright infringement for using Hannibal Lecter by Frederick Chilton who’s written a sequel to Hannibal the Cannibal called Blood and Chocolate. All this is referred to in the TV series. I don’t own Hannibal but for over a year it’s owned me…

Jame,

Thank you for sending me pictures of your moth collection. I can’t get the pattern on their backs out of my head. It’s not just the obvious symbolism for death which gets me, but for change, for transformation. 

Whether we believe Freddie Lounds’s words in Murder Husbands or Dr. Frederick Chilton’s in Blood and Chocolate, or whether we look for the truth in between, our beloved Will Graham has been changing ever since he met Dr. Hannibal Lecter. More than simply a cannibalistic psychiatrist or a killer, Hannibal tempts people, lures them into accepting darker truths about themselves. He invaded Will’s mind, body, and heart, almost like an incubus, inserting himself into his dreams. Your moth could be a motíf for the idea Hannibal hopes Will will become, the change his beloved is going through, and the change he undertakes because of the passion Will kindles with his change. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about change. We go through a state of ugliness, death, and decay, yet beauty inevitably blooms from all of these things. 

This isn’t something I can talk about with anybody at home any more than you can. I’ve tried to hide what Hannibal and Will mean to me, how fascinating I find their relationship. How arousing. No one else would understand. The only one I can talk about these things with is you. Any time I’ve tried hinting at it, I see disgust in the face of whomever is listening. They’d try to trivialize it into a morbid fascination with serial killers or violence. I suspect Freddie Lounds herself is laughing at our love for her book, for all she profits from our fascination. As for Dr. Frederick Chilton, he openly sneers at the Fannibals, people whom find Hannibal Lecter fascinating, compelling, attractive, interesting, even though he himself can’t stop writing about his former colleague. As for Hannigram fans, he’d trivialize Will Graham to being just another toy, a plaything Hannibal Lecter corrupted and discarded. 

For all of Dr. Chilton’s shortcomings, I still recommend reading Blood and Chocolate. Yes, I’m a minority in this and yes, Dr. Chilton does insist that Hannibal Lecter killed Will Graham, that he’s incapable of sustaining a long term relationship with anyone and that any relationship, even a long-term one must be punctuated by death. One day, Dr. Chilton insists, Hannibal will finish what he began in Florence, killing and consuming Will Graham. No, I don’t agree with a lot of what Chilton writes, but he offers up a lot of detail about Abigail Hobbs which Freddie Lounds leaves out of Murder Husbands. He tells the story she doesn’t about Hannibal and Will’s surrogate daughter, how she brought Hannibal and Will together. Abigail Hobbs is a vital part of Will and Hannibal’s story. She shouldn’t be forgotten even if one should read between the lines about her. 

Another important part is Bedelia Du Maurier, to whom Freddie Lounds gleefully applies Will Graham’s label as the Bride of Frankenstein. 

You and I agree upon this. You wouldn’t be coming to the Murder Husbands convention cosplaying Bedelia if you didn’t, would you? By the way, I think you should wear the purple dress with the scarf. You look fantastic in it, even though you’ve got your heart set on the blue coat and hat. The purple you could turn into a mundane outfit if you changed it so you were wearing pants. The blue…well, Jame, you look a bit like Michael Caine’s character in Dressed to Kill. This may be in spirit of things, but the purple really suits you. On second thought, why should you choose one outfit over another? The convention is over the weekend so you’ve got time to wear both if you wish. 

By the way, I’ve been wanting to tell you. Thank you for saying I have skin as perfect as Bedelia Du Maurier’s, skin so perfect you covet it. You have a way of seeing beauty in me everyone else is blind to, including myself. I’m not sure if I could say this to your face, but I wanted to thank you. You don’t know what it means to me. I blushed after you told me this in a way I’ve never blushed before. 

Thank you also for telling me about your twin, even if you didn’t want to say his name. I’m sorry he has the power to hurt you so deeply after all these years. I wish I could convince you that you, Jame, have a beauty that’s uniquely your own, shining from within, which has nothing to do with him. Perhaps in your creations you design you’ll be able to discover that beauty and see it for yourself. I hope you will. Your Bedelia Du Maurier cosplay will make you twice the woman of anyone present, I’m sure. 

Heartstopping compliments aside, I’m not going to cosplay Bedelia Du Maurier. Time to use this head of flaming red hair to my advantage. I’m going to see if I can make one of Freddie Lounds’s outfits flattering on myself in spite of my weight. It’s always a challenge to make something flattering in spite of my weight. Dieting doesn’t seem to work for me. You don’t know what it means after a lifetime of put-downs to have someone love me exactly as I am. 

Back to Bedelia Du Maurier before I turn so red I start shaking and I’m unable to write. I want to share my theory with you about her, a theory which came when I saw your moths.

Both Freddie and Dr. Chilton have compared Hannibal Lecter to Bluebeard. Here’s a few facts about Bluebeard you might not know. 

He was a real person in history. He was called Giles de Rais and he was one of the first serial killers who became a legend. Only Gilles de Rais didn’t murder his wives. His victims were young boys, boys whom reminded him in some way of Joan of Arc. Here’s another interesting fact; Gilles de Rais was Joan of Arc’s second-in-command. He may have gone more than a little mad when she was burned at the stake. 

Here’s another interesting fact; Joan of Arc had visions, heard voices. She was considered mad. Many couldn’t decide if she was a saint or a witch. 

This is a bit like Will Graham, isn’t it? Consider the trances he went into, the way he almost had visions of the past from the perspective of the criminal. Consider his empathy for all sorts of people, the way he sacrificed himself over and over, going into various killer’s heads. You could consider him a saint, a martyr, or a witch. Consider how he lured Hannibal Lecter into his own holy war against the very killers he empathized with. There were times when Hannibal Lecter helped Will Graham solve murders and save lives, no matter how many they took. 

Here’s my theory, Jame. According to Freddie Lounds, Bedelia Du Maurier claimed that Will Graham was the last wife of Bluebeard, i.e. Hannibal Lecter. He’s not. Will Graham is Hannibal Lecter’s Joan of Arc. He could be Hannibal’s salvation, just as Hannibal could be Will’s damnation. Or perhaps they’ll transform into something beyond salvation and damnation?

In order to get there, Bluebeard has to kill his final wife, whom isn’t Will Graham. It’s Bedelia Du Maurier. She’s the final sacrifice necessary before he can be with Joan. Hannibal and Will must kill and eat her in order to truly consummate their union. Otherwise they can’t complete their transformation. She’s the key to changing all the horror, death, pain, loss, and betrayal between Will and Hannibal into beauty and forgiveness. The Great Red Dragon wasn’t enough. They need her in order to complete the change. 

I’m not sure what I’m saying. You have a way of drawing things out of me, Jame, helping me to express them. This is an unwritten story which could become fanfic, fan art, or even a costume. I feel a need to express it, along with a certainty that you’ll find a way of helping me do so I’ve never considered. After all, you and I are both artists along with Fannibals and Hannigram fans.

You’ve no idea how lucky I feel to have met you. I’m looking forward to meeting you in person at the Murder Husbands convention. I can’t wait to see your costume. I hope you’ll enjoy mine. I hope we’ll have a chance to truly talk. Talking with you isn’t like talking to anyone else. 

Much love,  
Fred

**Author's Note:**

> Some of what Frederica says was what Hugh Dancy himself mentioned in a commentary about Hannibal Season 1: Apertíf. Fredrica Bimmel was actually dark-haired in Silence of the Lambs but she’s a redhead in this.  
> Bluebeard is based on Gilles de Rais. Gilles de Rais’s victims were young boys. I’m not sure if they actually reminded him of Joan of Arc or if Fredrica assumed this.


End file.
